Here's the options:

1. Apple was wildly irresponsible with the security and privacy of their users for a decade and a half, despite this childish press release about how EU is making their users less secure.

2. The risk profile of browsers only changed in the last couple of years, and until then it was totally safe for iOS browsers not to be patched regularly.

3. Apple doesn't particularly prioritize their users' security, but are setting up one more malicious compliance roadblock for anything that could threaten the tens of billions in pure profit they squeeze out of the Safari monopoly.